The Ducks are back in action tonight to kick off a busy weekend of hockey, facing off with the rival San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.
PUCK DROP: 7:00 P.M. | TV: BALLY SPORTS SOCAL | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER
Anaheim opens a weekend road-then-home back-to-back up in San Jose, the club's sixth straight road game after going 2-3-0 on a southeastern trek last week. The Ducks earned victories in Nashville (5-3) and Florida (5-4 OT) on that trip, but could not cap it off with a winning record after 2-0 loss to the Capitals in Tuesday's finale.
“We stayed, I thought, pretty sound defensively," head coach Greg Cronin said. "We didn’t give them too much, even though we weren’t really sharp with our passing and our execution. [John] Gibson kept us in the game, and we weathered a little bit of the surge they had in the third period and then we came on [but] we couldn’t score.”
"It was a tight game," Adam Henrique said. "I thought we did a good job coming out in the first five minutes and they did a good job being tight as a group all over, so there wasn't much back-and-forth. So it was a tight road game through the first two periods. I thought we did a great job in the third trying to push. We certainly had some opportunities but couldn't find a way to get that first one."
Anaheim directed 12 shots on net in the third period in searching for that tying goal, and came close on several occasions throughout a long shift in the offensive zone for the Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry and Alex Killorn line, but could not get the bounce for the equalizing goal.
"We played hard in the third but most teams are going to give you that when you're down a goal or two," Cronin said. "Killorn had an unbelievable chance there but Kuemper got his toe on it.
"We've had so many games like this. We lead the NHL in one-goal losses. It was unfortunate our power play couldn't score there. The Capitals penalty kill did a good job."
"In a tight, stingy road game we needed to find opportunities offensively to possess the puck in the zone more," Henrique added. "[We need to] attack, get more bodies to the net."
After a couple of days back in Orange County, Anaheim will look for its second win of the season against its NorCal rival - one that's dropped to the bottom of the NHL standings. The Ducks opened the four-game season series back in November with a 4-1 victory on home ice, backed by a pair of goals from Frank Vatrano, two assists from Ryan Strome and a 25-save night for John Gibson.
"We kept pushing, we kept getting better and better as the game went on," Radko Gudas said that night. "We were going after the two points and we got them. I think it was a good game from us after the
first period."
Since then, the rebuilding Sharks have gone 8-19-2, including a 12-game losing skid and a current four-game slide after Tuesday's shootout loss to the Blackhawks.
“I thought we played well,” San Jose coach David Quinn told NHL.com's Bruce Miles Tuesday. “I thought we had a lot of Grade A [chances]. I thought we played well. We played hard. We’ve been having a hard time scoring goals here the last few days. But if we play like that, the pucks will eventually end up going in.”
San Jose (10-31-4, 24 points) sits last in the Pacific Division and Western Conference, seven points back of Anaheim.
